Cafepress Rips Off Artists

Cafepress is a site that sells products such as tshirts, notecards and keychains onto which artists put their designs in an attempt to earn a few dollars. If they are really prolific, they could make a living. Or so one might think. But two years ago (maybe 3), Cafepress decided that the artists were secondary to the profit to be made and changed the way the site would do business with them.

In years past, all an artist would have to do is upload their work, choose the products the work would be on, set mark ups and be done. Of course, there was marketing, telling friends and family, maybe sending emails or announcing at shows they had merchandise, but the sales and the work belonged to the artist. Cafepress already had their prices-anything above and beyond was the artist’s take. Here’s how Cafepress decided designers didn’t matter:

When an artist opens up a Cafepress page and uploads the designs, Cafepress defaults an “admin” page as well. This is their “marketplace” and anything a designer puts on product goes there in addition to their own. When people search for an item then decide to buy it, the sale doesn’t go to the artist who made it, it goes directly to Cafepress. The artist will get pennies on the dollar, not the markup he chose. An item that sells for $18.99 might net the artist about $.85. Cafepress’ terms state that if that artist wants to see more money, he must do several things: Get followers, get likes, upload new designs daily. These all earn the artist "points" that will up the "commission". Commission? It's OUR work! Try finding these terms of sale in their policies and you might as well look for a needle in your lawn. They're there and you will be told of them if you complain. But damned if I could find them on my own.

There are two ways to avoid this “admin-marketplace” rip off. The first is located at the bottom of your profile page, an “opt-out” of their marketplace. This leaves all the selling to the artist; their work won’t show in searches for general items unless Cafepress thinks it should. The second is to delete the admin, which won’t be permanent; every time product is added, another admin page will materialize. This leaves the onus of selling on the artist, but making $5 for one item versus having to sell ten or eleven of that same one for the same $5 through Cafepress’ marketplace makes a lot more sense in the long run. Out of $366 in sales, I netted a whole $18, where had I sold all of those through my webpage, my take would have been over $100. And Cafepress is sneaky. Even if someone searches my name or a specific item, that sale still goes to them, not me.

I have been arguing with Cafepress since May, 2014 about this ripping off and, lo and behold, they found an error. Something that should have netted me my full markup “mistakenly” went to the marketplace. It is December and I am still arguing and waiting for my $6 correction. In just over a year, I sold 17 “Biker in Training” baby onesies. Cafepress “pinned” it twice. I didn’t ask them to. My “profit” on each? $.85. My markup? $5, making it $18.99 each. They SOLD it for that, but I didn’t see it. At 17 sales, I should have netted $85. Instead, I netted $14.45. Fair? Nope.

Now when I promote my items, I say in the promotion to please order directly from the link provided as otherwise I will not get paid. We will see how that works out.

Cafepress, Zazzle, Red Bubble and others do provide a valuable service to those of us who can not afford to keep stock. But so far, it has only been Cafepress that saw fit to screw the very designers their business needs to succeed and make it difficult for them to make any money. I can't understand why more artists aren't up in arms over this blatant ripping off of their work.

Fine Art Photography

My fine art photography is for sale and can be found at http://louise-reeves.artistwebsites.com/

Examples of my work: